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Home My WebLink AboutTimes Advocate, 1998-10-28, Page 4Exeter Myles -Advocate -----_ Feature Wednesday. October 28. 1 qqt By Scott Nixon limes-A(1$ucate Staff the time they've • unlocked the gun - case, their anger has lessened. "Storage ha Homphf said. Proper storage i Cant because it pr tended children - ate* to guns and h selves or others. If a gun owner has stolen and it turns o wasn't stored . properly charged with improper Homphf explained tha storage needs to be i gun owners, most hunte • enthusiasts use their g and added hunters won —member of their gr unsafe tactics. Jim Butcher of On Services in Clinton he agrees with t safety and trainin ments set by the go he- said registration any good in preventing accidents: "Nobody's been able to how it's going to prevent an TER _ Butcher said of gun re "les a great -expense for no Prime- Most deaths come from er Jean activity, not hunters, he sai en has "The 'hunting communi in. the threatio anybody" t of late If the government is seriou e of the increasing safety; Butcher s scandal,, -should be cracking down on ernment gun smuggling. wners Two positive aspects of th ing all ernment's gun law are the r tnents for proper storage and ee.the .ground checks. tins as He said one possibility f overs- _ goverment pushing h is that it could be just lem. r forts of taxation. It costs That o gun owners to register their membc, who guns and any additional gun buywill:cost $25 to register. urse. Butcher adds that Canada i an "a alone in its strictness on gun gun said Japan is also trying gun r s no tration. vers Above and beyond the issu still ' whether or not gun •registration 1'be increase gun safety is the issu snits just, how much control the gov meat should have over Canadii tra- Butcher admits he worries ab s a the government having too ni power and cites the scandal o ave last Year's student protests at t for API;(; Summit in Vancouver as till example of government suppre .sion over its people a- Butcher added, though, that h it' c don't mean he is "an armed. citizenry Iilc Ile said none of the gun has talked oto are 1 ople being able to wal ed, but they feel gu is going too far. cused the governmen propaganda to mak public feel gun owners ible. nment has tended to criminals ... that's a ide," he said. hat environmentalists ositively-on hunters Its the rage," s also impor- events 'unat- from having urting them- a gun lost or ut that gun n .he can be e storage. l t while gun mproved by m rs and gun th uns safely si Ltolerate a ti oup using- Th not tario •Gun g says while me he proper ens g require- gu vernment buy won't do $20 crimes or and . hav explain chec ything. " J a gistration, Kipp gain." ' regul criminal beca d. uncle ty is no putti signs s'about For aid'they ' memb illegal the ex Like e gov- Caldw equire- gun. s back- istry is sim or the . the on Bill 68 when: c because of the misconception hunters are adding to the decline in wildlife. He blames that on the increase of industry and human Population and .says; "We're not trying to wipe out every animal." Butcher said there, is. a fear among gun owners there couldd'be further registration down the road, resulting in a limit on the number of guns people can own. He said while many people may 01 understand why some gun own_ rs have up to 10 guns in their col- actions, he said that's like asking why a person has 10 golf clubs or ore than one pair of skis. He said e guns are basically toys and are mply used for shooting- mpeti- ons and hunting.. e public gets "a little bit 'para - d," about guns, Butcher said. utcher also said the require nts to buy a gun in Canada ure people know how to handle ns. He said people wanting to a gun probably spend $150- 0 on a two-day, safety course • wait up to a month while they e a background and reference k done on them. mie Caldwell, owner of the' en Gun Club, says government ations will effect his business use he will eventually have to rgo inspection and also faces ng • up gates, fences, warning and flags around his property. a club his size about 20. ers = Caldwell wonders if pense'will be worth it: Romphf and Butcher, ell .is in favour of increasing afety but he doubts gun reg - help: He said gun registry Ply the government "putting us on innocent .gun owners" riminals are the real prob- .. Pinion is unanimous among 'rs of the gun club, Caldwell EXE rVhile Minist 'hreti een potligh ecaus PEC s gov also angering gun o cause of legislation stat ns must be registered. Not only do gun owners s andatory registration of g unnecessary waste of g Pictured above, SteveGraham of Goderich, one of 20 members of the Kippen Gu is shooting when the TA visited tub was he club last Saturdayctising s go Jamie Caldwell, club owner, says gun enthusiasts and hunters have an undeserved bad reputation. m an Wayne Peachey of Goderich takes aim during a shoot last Saturday at the Kippen Gun Club. Club owner Jamie Caldwell says all members of the club are against the Chretign governments Bill 68 which will force gun owners to register their guns. ment money, accordingLiberal als who spoke to the T -A last week,. throng Bill C-68 will fail in its anothe prevent gun -related crimes. rpose '_to $10 for Terry Romphf of Dashwood, teaches a firearms safety co says the bill is misdirected a waste of time." He says.forcing Owners to register their guns i different than making car ow register their cars — there are car accidents and there will stil gun -related. crimes and accidc after gun registration. "Everybody's against the regis lion (billl." Homphf says- "It' joke." Homphf adds that handguns h had to be registered in Canada over 60 years and says they are s used in many gun -related erimes. Homphf said while gun registr tion will not halt criminal activity will have they said.. ' "Everybody's dead against gun s not 'registration," he said. s• He, But similar to Butcher, Caldwell egis- said hunters and gun owners have a bad reputation among non=gyn e•of owners and said, "The people in will the cities o,utnuinber us." e of Ile .blames politicians for caving ern in to public pressure and irnple'- ins. 'menting Hill 68 just to ensur out get re-elected..f "they The government uch needs to put moe thought into its. ver , gun bill, according to Caldwell. he'' '1Ie said protests like the one held an on Parliament'Hi,l last month won't ss do any good bc'caust politicians have already made up their minds. is . According to Caldwell most of the in negative attitude toward gun own - e' ers stems from an ignorance of what shooting is all about. More n . people should get out and try shoot - k ing to learn how much fun it can n be, he said. . Caldwell, who's been running the t gun club for the last 20 years, said e the club has a clean safety record and said he's confident gun owners know how to employ proper safety. While he is 'against gun registra- tion, Caldwell concedes that one result of. registration is if police are called to a domestic dispute they See GUN STORY page 5 e one. definite result — the comments government will have favher .S names and bion owners' in the U.S .. Romphf said numbers on file. owners he p Australia• ed a similar implement- favour of pe gun registration pro- around arm gram and then started banning registration happen here. guns, something he fears could He also ac While gun: registration won't have of spreading any effect on gun safety accordingthe general to Romphf, proper storage is thare he gover "The best way to prevent accidents and all a violent crimes. He said storage is a paint us uas deterrent to people who "lose their thorn in our s minds" in a fit of rage because byHe added t don't look p